It might look a little like some sort of spaceship in the picture above, but the Ciclotte is merely an exercise bike. A very upmarket, engineered-within-an-inch-of-its-life exercise bike, but an exercise bike all the same.

In designer-speak, the Ciclotte is:

A project that is a real expression of contemporary living, where work, entertainment, exercising and relaxation share a single dimension, within fluid spaces where all objects can interact with one another. Ciclotte is decidedly different from any other exercise bike or home fitness equipment, because it breaks with the designs of gym equipment that have always emphasised the functional aspects, to find a place with inimitable style within the most varied living contexts: home, office, gym, and the outdoors.

The Ciclotte is made in Italy, and designed, in 2008, by Luca Schieppati, and produced by the Lamiflex Composites company. It stems from a 2005 design from Schieppati, called the Ciclo (pictured left), which rather than being an exercise bike it was actually a bicycle… or rather a “human propulsion vehicle which defines a new conceptual solution for the problem of the assisted walk’.

It is constructed predominantly of carbon, steel and glass fibre. Yes, it is obviously designed to be looked at, but it also designed to be used. The saddle is constructed of carbon and alcantara padding, alcantara being a composite material, polyester and polyurethane, made to be durable and, aaaah, stain resistant. Don’t dwell too much thinking about the stain aspect. To channel Old Spice guy, look at the word ‘stain’, and now back to the Ciclotte.

Control of the difficulty of pedalling is via a touchscreen display, with a choice of 12 levels of resistance. The designers have tried to have the resistance mimic the way a real bicycle feels on the road by a trademarked technology, a ‘dual satellite epicycloid system’. Four flywheel rotations occur each pedal rotation, ‘generating a high-intensity magnetic field and maximising the resistance level’. Translated, yes, this object looks beautiful, but hop on and use it and it can most definitely take you to cardiovascular hell.

How much does the Ciclotte cost?

One look at the Ciclotte and its list of materials tells you that this is a piece of exercise technology that does not have a cheap price tag. So, if you’d like to buy one, use it for a while, and then, when changing your exercise routine, use it instead as something of sculpture about your home, look to pay a little over US$10,000.

Colour choices are black, silver and purple, and, if you’d like to pay just a little more, you can have your own brand, name or graphics applied.

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Scott Fitzgerald started TechStyles in 2010, after 5 years of running the GadgetGuy website, so gadgets and tech have been a big part of his life for quite a while now. Prior to that he edited the Macquarie Dictionary, Travelmate.com.au and NeeditNow.com. Find Scott on Google+